Seattle Police said “a number” of videos involving officer conduct have been forwarded to the agency responsible for investigations. At least two have been shared online.
The first video, which circulated widely Monday, appears to show a Seattle Police officer inside a patrol car. When approached by someone filming, he says he’s resigning.
“Don’t worry man because guess what, I’m leaving,” he said. “You guys won. F---ing two months, baby, I’m out.”
“You’re about to resign?” a person behind the camera asks.
“I’m f---ing gone, bro,” he responds.
A spokesperson for Seattle Police said it is aware of the video, but would not say if they know when it was recorded. SPD said it has been sent to the Office of Police Accountability for review.
The department was not able to confirm if the officer has filed resignation notice.
Another video, which was first reported by the South Seattle Emerald Tuesday, shows a man driving an SUV at people on a sidewalk, and claiming to be a police officer who was trying to catch a specific person.
People scatter as the SUV speeds through an intersection, and then the person filming addresses the driver after a cut in the footage.
“I saw it,” the person filming said.
“No you didn’t,” the driver said.
“What’d I see?"
“I don’t know, what did you see?”
“I saw you almost hit a bunch of people.”
A few moments later, the voice behind the camera asks the driver a question.
“Are the one who called them a bunch of cockroaches?”
“Yes, yes,” the driver responds.
SPD confirmed this video has also been sent to the Office of Police Accountability, but would not speak further about it.
In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Seattle Police Officers Guild president Mike Solan discussed the resignation video.
“Sure, I can’t talk about each individual officer and their beliefs,” he said. “Obviously they have an opinion because they’re human beings. But that’s just it, they’re human beings, and there’s only so much a human being can take when day in and day out we’ve yet to hear our elected officials condemn the violence.”
KING 5 asked him if serving the community means rising above criticism and being accountable to critics.
“Sure, we serve at the will of the community, and we are accountable to them,” Solan said. “We’ve always done that. More importantly, how come the city council hasn’t brought us to the table to talk about this?”
He’s referring to calls to defund SPD by 50%. The council did propose cuts, though its latest measure falls well short of that number.
Solan would not discuss the "cockroaches" video, saying he hadn’t seen it.
He expressed frustration with city leaders following a protest at the SPOG office Sunday, which police declared a riot.
Police said that 18 people were arrested and six officers injured after someone in the crowd set off a "large explosive" and explosives were thrown at officers. Police used pepper spray and blast balls. Surveillance video from a nearby business shows fireworks exploding at ground level.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s office updated the cases of those arrested Sunday identifying several by name. That full update is available here.